Jeff Mueller completed a weekend sweep as the Memphis Spring Nationals closed out a two night run at the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, Saturday evening and Hunter Marriott appeared to be on his way to a second win as well only to have Kyle Brown end that effort in the closing laps.
Marriott who was the best of the Modifieds on Friday drew the pole position for Saturday's 25-lap finale and had to be considered the pre-race favorite despite others in the talented field of twenty-three. As expected the young Missouri driver would take the lead at the drop of the green with fourth-starting Colt Mather quickly moving in to challenge. Cayden Carter would soon take second though and as he tried to keep pace with Marriot, Mather would begin to fade out of the top five. With the leaders riding the cushion on both ends of the wide 3/8-mile oval Marriott would stretch his advantage over Carter while Kyle Brown steadily made his way to the front using the low line around the speedway.
Brown had started tenth and he would drive under Carter for second with less than ten laps remaining and still nearly half a straightaway behind Marriott, but with lapped traffic also running the high side the leader was forced to use some other lines and that is when Brown closed quickly. With just three laps remaining Brown drove under Marriott off of turn four to take the lead only to have the lapped car of Bobby Six just ahead in his preferred line down low. This would allow Marriott to regain the lead down the back stretch, but when Brown muscled his way under Six into turn three he was again able to power off the low side of four to regain the lead. The driver of the Harris house car then closed the deal over the final two laps to score the $2,000 win with Marriott settling for second. Carter was a straightaway back in third as Kelly Shryock and the twelfth-starting Kurt Kile completed the top five.
A native of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, Jeff Mueller now resides in Albion, Iowa, but the change of address has not made him forget how to get to victory lane here in Memphis, a position that he has been in several times over the years including last night. The Stock Cars were the third of five features on the night and coming into the twenty lap event it appeared that the high side was the only place to be and that was where all but one of the lead pack of four would run for the first five laps. Dustin Griffiths, who moved to the division at the end of 2016, would set the pace with Damon Murty and Mike Hughes hot on his heels while Mueller drove his customary bottom line after starting fourth. And, just after Mueller took the lead on lap five, the caution would wave as Cody Washburne spun in turn four.
On the restart nearly everybody decided that Mueller's line was the best as all but Griffiths and Todd Reitzler went to the low side as Mueller paced the field. He wasn't driving away from anybody, and he likely wasn't trying to as he protected the bottom from both Murty and Hughes as Cayden Carter also joined the mix. A pair of cautions on lap twelve and lap seventeen shuffled the field with Carter taking second from Murty on the last restart by using the second line up on the race track. Now in second, Carter gave Mueller a nice love tap entering turn three to let him know he was there and then was able to get a nose under Mueller entering turn one. The leader did not flinch though, holding his line and protecting his advantage over the final lap and a half to secure the win. Carter was second followed closely by Murty, Hughes and Griffiths.
The Sport Compact field was twenty-one strong tonight and they provided the fans with an entertaining non-stop fourteen lap main event with Steven Struck pacing the field. Brandon Reu had started back in the fourth row and, while most of the field was running the middle or higher groove, Reu was taking the short way around and was gradually making his way to the front. Struck must have spotted him though and tried to take his line away on lap twelve, but when the leader drifted off the bottom in turn four that allowed Reu to take the lead. Struck mounted one more challenge up high on the final lap, but he could not catch the former Lee County Speedway track champion as Brandon Reu took the win. Struck finished in second while Brandon Lambert and Cody Van Dusen crossed the line side-by-side for third. No official finish was given so we will have to wait to see on that one as Luke Benischek finished in fifth. Sunday morning update......I see in the results that Brandon Lambert edged out Van Dusen , but it was for second rather than third. Apparently Brandon Reu was disqualified in tech with the win going to Steven Struck. Since this was the next-to-last feature of the night and with the Modifieds running non-stop perhaps this was announced after I had left the building.
The high line was definitely the place to be as the Sport Mods ran the second feature of the night and pole sitter Jason McDaniel crowded his way out to the cushion off turn four as the green flag waved and he would lead until the caution waved for a Brandon Symmonds spin on lap six. The action picked up on the restart as Carter VanDenBerg would put a slider on McDaniel in turns one and two to take the lead only to have Tyler Soppe throw a slider at him in turns three and four to lead lap seven. VanDenBerg charged back under Soppe in turn one, but Tyler pulled the crossover move out of two to maintain the lead. While all this was going on the 20th and final starter on the grid, Brandon Lennox moved into the top three as the caution waved for debris at the mid-race point, lap nine.
Soppe guarded the bottom on the restart to thwart another flurry of sliders as Lennox moved to second and tried to mount a challenge. As the laps wound down Lennox stayed close, but when he got completely sideways in turn three with three laps remaining that allowed Soppe to break away for a comfortable win. McDaniel would take over second as Lennox recovered to finish third and VanDenBerg prevailed in a battle for fourth with his cousin Brayton Carter.
Hobby Stocks were the short field of the night with ten cars going fourteen laps and after Nathan Ballard passed Daniel Wauters on lap two the Marengo, Iowa, driver was long gone for the win. Scottie Shull finished in second with Wauters in third. Damon Murty gave car owner Bill Bonnett a win on Friday and a fourth-place finish on this night with Mike Kincaid in fifth.
Spring Nationals Notes......Ninety-seven cars in five divisions and a complete show in just two and a half hours. If there is a chill in the air you want to be attending an event presented by Mike Van Genderen and his crew as they started racing at 5:50 and the final checkered flag waved at 8:20 giving chief starter Kevin Eggelston plenty of time to get to a television to watch his beloved Cyclones. Unfortunately the outcome was not what he was hoping for.....While there were several drivers that made long pulls to race in Memphis nearly all of them were drivers that we have seen make the trip before over the past few years. One new visitor though was Stock Car driver Kyle Frederick who made the long haul down from Oconto Falls, Wisconsin, to post a top ten finish tonight.....Mike Hughes may have Dean Kratzer to thank for his fourth place finish tonight. In his heat race Hughes spun in turn one early in the race and was racing just ahead of the leaders in last place with three laps remaining when Kratzer spun in turn four. Unable to get his car restarted, the caution waved and that allowed Hughes to come all the way around to join the pack for the restart where he then was able to finish in fourth and make the redraw. He did draw the eight, so he advanced nicely in the feature, but it would have been a longer way to come without Kratzer's caution.....Damon Murty's 13-year-old son Dallon wheeled his dad's backup car for the weekend......The big charge by Brandon Lennox was necessitated by his disqualification after he finished second in the second Sport Mod heat race when it was discovered that he had his right front brake turned off......Memphis proved once again why it is one of my favorite tracks as the groove moved around all night allowing for two and three-wide racing. Many of these same drivers and others will now go to another of my favorites next weekend for the Spring Extravaganza at the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson for Friday and Saturday night action......The next event at Scotland County should be a good one as the Lucas Oil MLRA Late Models come to town on Thursday, June 1st.
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Friday, March 17, 2017
Weekly Racing Has A New Approach at Some Midwest Tracks
As promoters search to find the best formula to present a profitable "weekly" racing program a change in how some tracks put together their schedule has become evident as we head into the 2017 season. Some tracks are starting later, some are finishing earlier, and some are doing both. Others are taking a week off here and there while a couple more have even built in what is a mid-season break to create what is essentially two different seasons.
We all know that the now defunct Iowa State Fair Speedway always had to end their weekly racing season early in order to accommodate the Iowa State Fair, but for the past few years now the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City has structured its schedule in the same manner. The fair board operated track starts in mid-April and will hold its Season Championship once again on the final Saturday in July. Three special events including the Harris Clash and an appearance by the USMTS fills out the rest of the season.
A track with an even shorter season in 2017 is the Callaway Raceway in Fulton, Missouri. Friday night racing will get underway on April 7th, but the season will close out on July 14th, perhaps the earliest "scheduled" end to a weekly racing season that I have seen in recent years.
With its traditional Wednesday race night and the school schedule likely the determining factor, the Buena Vista Raceway in Alta will not open this season until after Memorial Day on May 31st, and will wrap up the season on August 16th. It is a pretty safe bet that a look at the nightly P & L sheet shows that it doesn't make sense to start earlier, or go later in the season at the northwest Iowa facility. Hopefully the tight twelve race schedule produces good car counts and full grandstands.
Experience and looking at the bottom line for race nights over the past two years is why promoter Kenny Dobson has built in several "off nights" at the Quincy Raceways in 2017. The Sunday night program has traditionally started in early April and runs weekly through September, but this year drivers and fans will want to confirm the dates before making the trip to the "Bullring on Broadway". The first "off night" is Easter Sunday April 16th and the track will take a break on Mother's Day as well. Dobson has found that both car counts and attendance drop off during the heat of the season and that is why the track will be dark for two Sunday nights in both July and August. Quincy's schedule is chock full of special events again though and they will start racing on April 2nd with September 24th being the final race night as of now. Dobson has shown that he will continue to run races into the Fall if the weather is good and the support is there.
The Randolph County Raceway in Moberly, Missouri, has scaled back its weekly program so much that it might actually now be considered a "specials only" facility. The high banked, high speed facility will start the season on Sunday March 26th with the ASCS National Tour and will then run two events in April, two in June, three in July, one in August, three in September and one in October.
It is always good to see a former weekly racing facility come back to life and that is the case at The Hill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. They will ease back into things by running eights events during a sixteen week period beginning May 21st and ending September 2nd.
A couple of years ago while I was attending the Wild West Shootout in Tucson I was intrigued by the track's weekly schedule that was split into two different seasons in order to allow racers and fans to sit out the hot Arizona summer. Two tracks to our south are taking a similar approach with their 2017 schedules and it will be interesting to see how it works having such an extended break within the weekly schedule.
The Lebanon Midway Speedway in southwest Missouri will start racing the final day in March and will run Fridays weekly through August 4th. They then take a one month break returning on September 9th and running each and every Saturday until November 4th. The track tried this last year moving to Saturdays after the local pavement track ends its season and it was definitely noticeable how the car counts grew during the Fall schedule.
After purchasing the dirt track in Meeker, Oklahoma, back in December Cody and Ken Brewer came up with a unique schedule for their first season at Red Dirt Raceway. The track will open on March 31st running weekly through the month of June. They will then be closed for the entire months of July and August before returning to action September 1st when they will again race weekly through October 20th.
You can bet that other promoters will be paying attention to how each of these scheduling strategies play out in 2017 and, if one or more are successful, don't be surprised if we see more tracks shake things up when it comes to "weekly" racing in 2018. After all, we do not want to see any more tracks in the same situation as the St. Croix Raceway in Wisconsin that is up for sell and is currently not scheduled to open this season.
It has warmed up nicely on this sunny Friday so you have plenty of time to make it to the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, for night one of the Spring Nationals tonight. And, if you are like me and will be attending on Saturday night, throw in an extra coat or two as it will again cool off a bit, but nothing like it was last week!
See you on the Back Stretch.
We all know that the now defunct Iowa State Fair Speedway always had to end their weekly racing season early in order to accommodate the Iowa State Fair, but for the past few years now the Hamilton County Speedway in Webster City has structured its schedule in the same manner. The fair board operated track starts in mid-April and will hold its Season Championship once again on the final Saturday in July. Three special events including the Harris Clash and an appearance by the USMTS fills out the rest of the season.
A track with an even shorter season in 2017 is the Callaway Raceway in Fulton, Missouri. Friday night racing will get underway on April 7th, but the season will close out on July 14th, perhaps the earliest "scheduled" end to a weekly racing season that I have seen in recent years.
With its traditional Wednesday race night and the school schedule likely the determining factor, the Buena Vista Raceway in Alta will not open this season until after Memorial Day on May 31st, and will wrap up the season on August 16th. It is a pretty safe bet that a look at the nightly P & L sheet shows that it doesn't make sense to start earlier, or go later in the season at the northwest Iowa facility. Hopefully the tight twelve race schedule produces good car counts and full grandstands.
Experience and looking at the bottom line for race nights over the past two years is why promoter Kenny Dobson has built in several "off nights" at the Quincy Raceways in 2017. The Sunday night program has traditionally started in early April and runs weekly through September, but this year drivers and fans will want to confirm the dates before making the trip to the "Bullring on Broadway". The first "off night" is Easter Sunday April 16th and the track will take a break on Mother's Day as well. Dobson has found that both car counts and attendance drop off during the heat of the season and that is why the track will be dark for two Sunday nights in both July and August. Quincy's schedule is chock full of special events again though and they will start racing on April 2nd with September 24th being the final race night as of now. Dobson has shown that he will continue to run races into the Fall if the weather is good and the support is there.
The Randolph County Raceway in Moberly, Missouri, has scaled back its weekly program so much that it might actually now be considered a "specials only" facility. The high banked, high speed facility will start the season on Sunday March 26th with the ASCS National Tour and will then run two events in April, two in June, three in July, one in August, three in September and one in October.
It is always good to see a former weekly racing facility come back to life and that is the case at The Hill Raceway in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. They will ease back into things by running eights events during a sixteen week period beginning May 21st and ending September 2nd.
A couple of years ago while I was attending the Wild West Shootout in Tucson I was intrigued by the track's weekly schedule that was split into two different seasons in order to allow racers and fans to sit out the hot Arizona summer. Two tracks to our south are taking a similar approach with their 2017 schedules and it will be interesting to see how it works having such an extended break within the weekly schedule.
The Lebanon Midway Speedway in southwest Missouri will start racing the final day in March and will run Fridays weekly through August 4th. They then take a one month break returning on September 9th and running each and every Saturday until November 4th. The track tried this last year moving to Saturdays after the local pavement track ends its season and it was definitely noticeable how the car counts grew during the Fall schedule.
After purchasing the dirt track in Meeker, Oklahoma, back in December Cody and Ken Brewer came up with a unique schedule for their first season at Red Dirt Raceway. The track will open on March 31st running weekly through the month of June. They will then be closed for the entire months of July and August before returning to action September 1st when they will again race weekly through October 20th.
You can bet that other promoters will be paying attention to how each of these scheduling strategies play out in 2017 and, if one or more are successful, don't be surprised if we see more tracks shake things up when it comes to "weekly" racing in 2018. After all, we do not want to see any more tracks in the same situation as the St. Croix Raceway in Wisconsin that is up for sell and is currently not scheduled to open this season.
It has warmed up nicely on this sunny Friday so you have plenty of time to make it to the Scotland County Speedway in Memphis, Missouri, for night one of the Spring Nationals tonight. And, if you are like me and will be attending on Saturday night, throw in an extra coat or two as it will again cool off a bit, but nothing like it was last week!
See you on the Back Stretch.
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Wednesday Notebook: March 15, 2017
Excited to go and watch the Hawkeyes tonight as they open the NIT against South Dakota. No, they did not make the big dance, but I sure do enjoy watching the youngsters and I hope that we get to see Peter Jok play five more games in the black and gold.
At 9:42 a.m. today I officially thawed out from my trip to Beatrice. Of course it didn't help that we have had near record low temperatures here the past couple of days. Now I am ready to set my sights on a night at the Scotland County Speedway this weekend where it should be a just a bit warmer and keep in mind that the start time for Saturday's show has been moved up one hour to 6 p.m.
Regulars on the Back Stretch know that I usually have a notes section when I cover an event like Beatrice that would include some interesting tidbits from what happened during the qualifying races, who's attendance might have surprised me, who spun who, etc. Obviously there was no notes section in my story though for two reasons. One, it was too cold to take my gloves off so that I could write something down in my notebook and, two, when I did try I found that it was too cold for my pen to work. That's right, I had to blow whatever hot breath that I could muster on it in order to get the ink to flow from my pen onto the paper just to jot down the finishes and fortunately they had the lineups posted below the grandstand where I was able to warm up the pen enough to write them all down at once. I tried four different pens during the night so either it was the coldest night of racing that I have been to in memory or they just don't make pens like they used to.
This is meant as a general observation and not just a dig from last Friday, but I am not a fan of when the announcer for the pay-per-view internet broadcast is also the voice that is being projected out to the ticket buying fans in the stands. There is a difference in how one would announce when doing the P.A. system only and the best example that I can give goes back to the Gateway Dirt Nationals qualifying night when I could not once hear a single qualifying time. Why? Because the announcer was doing the internet broadcast so he didn't have to find that precious two or three seconds where the noise faded after each group so that the people in the stands could hear their times. Also, call me a grumpy old man, but I could really care less about who is Tweeting in to say that they are watching at home in the warmth and comfort of their easy chair, especially when those of us who did buy tickets are freezing appendages off because we love the sport and want to enjoy it as a spectator. Ben Shelton and Chet Christner do a spectacular job on the internet broadcasts, they are two of the best! But promoters, let them do their thing and give the fans a P.A. announcer who will take care of the people in the stands, inform them, entertain them and make them feel appreciated for actually being there.
So one thing that I did learn from the announcers last Friday night is that Beatrice, Nebraska, will be a prime viewing site for the total eclipse of the sun on August 21st of this year. If you would like to "Come Get Mooned In Beatrice" check out this website.
I have joked around in the past that we are seeing race schedules for some tracks and series come out earlier and earlier each year with October of the year before now being common. We have a new leader in the clubhouse though and it just adds to the bizarre situation that is taking place up in Brandon, South Dakota. Badlands Motor Speedway has released its 2018 schedule, two months before the first race of their abbreviated 2017 schedule begins, and of course this is all pending a potential sale of the track to anyone who has $9 million in cash handy or would like to finance it for $12 million. So here is the 2017 Specials schedule as it stands now on Positively Racing, but I guess that I now have to start working on 2018. Geesh!
I turned on the television Sunday and it just happened to be on Fox with six laps remaining in Vegas so I watched in interest the wild finish that saw Brad Keselowski fade, Martin Truex win and Kyle Busch's run in with Joey Logano, or more accurately Logano's crew. Kyle marching off with blood on his forehead was classic and, I hate to say it, but could be exactly what NASCAR needs in order to get their viewership back up both at home and in the stands. I know that I will have my DVR set for this weekend. There is no way that I can watch Phoenix live, I have a life to live, and besides the NCAA tournament will be on.
Cold weather has already claimed the MARS East event on Friday and the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series event this Saturday at the Brownstown Speedway in Indiana. The warm up is supposed to work in from west to east so here is hoping that the rest of the shows this weekend can go on as scheduled. And that it is warm enough for my pen!
See you on the Back Stretch.
At 9:42 a.m. today I officially thawed out from my trip to Beatrice. Of course it didn't help that we have had near record low temperatures here the past couple of days. Now I am ready to set my sights on a night at the Scotland County Speedway this weekend where it should be a just a bit warmer and keep in mind that the start time for Saturday's show has been moved up one hour to 6 p.m.
Regulars on the Back Stretch know that I usually have a notes section when I cover an event like Beatrice that would include some interesting tidbits from what happened during the qualifying races, who's attendance might have surprised me, who spun who, etc. Obviously there was no notes section in my story though for two reasons. One, it was too cold to take my gloves off so that I could write something down in my notebook and, two, when I did try I found that it was too cold for my pen to work. That's right, I had to blow whatever hot breath that I could muster on it in order to get the ink to flow from my pen onto the paper just to jot down the finishes and fortunately they had the lineups posted below the grandstand where I was able to warm up the pen enough to write them all down at once. I tried four different pens during the night so either it was the coldest night of racing that I have been to in memory or they just don't make pens like they used to.
This is meant as a general observation and not just a dig from last Friday, but I am not a fan of when the announcer for the pay-per-view internet broadcast is also the voice that is being projected out to the ticket buying fans in the stands. There is a difference in how one would announce when doing the P.A. system only and the best example that I can give goes back to the Gateway Dirt Nationals qualifying night when I could not once hear a single qualifying time. Why? Because the announcer was doing the internet broadcast so he didn't have to find that precious two or three seconds where the noise faded after each group so that the people in the stands could hear their times. Also, call me a grumpy old man, but I could really care less about who is Tweeting in to say that they are watching at home in the warmth and comfort of their easy chair, especially when those of us who did buy tickets are freezing appendages off because we love the sport and want to enjoy it as a spectator. Ben Shelton and Chet Christner do a spectacular job on the internet broadcasts, they are two of the best! But promoters, let them do their thing and give the fans a P.A. announcer who will take care of the people in the stands, inform them, entertain them and make them feel appreciated for actually being there.
So one thing that I did learn from the announcers last Friday night is that Beatrice, Nebraska, will be a prime viewing site for the total eclipse of the sun on August 21st of this year. If you would like to "Come Get Mooned In Beatrice" check out this website.
I have joked around in the past that we are seeing race schedules for some tracks and series come out earlier and earlier each year with October of the year before now being common. We have a new leader in the clubhouse though and it just adds to the bizarre situation that is taking place up in Brandon, South Dakota. Badlands Motor Speedway has released its 2018 schedule, two months before the first race of their abbreviated 2017 schedule begins, and of course this is all pending a potential sale of the track to anyone who has $9 million in cash handy or would like to finance it for $12 million. So here is the 2017 Specials schedule as it stands now on Positively Racing, but I guess that I now have to start working on 2018. Geesh!
I turned on the television Sunday and it just happened to be on Fox with six laps remaining in Vegas so I watched in interest the wild finish that saw Brad Keselowski fade, Martin Truex win and Kyle Busch's run in with Joey Logano, or more accurately Logano's crew. Kyle marching off with blood on his forehead was classic and, I hate to say it, but could be exactly what NASCAR needs in order to get their viewership back up both at home and in the stands. I know that I will have my DVR set for this weekend. There is no way that I can watch Phoenix live, I have a life to live, and besides the NCAA tournament will be on.
Cold weather has already claimed the MARS East event on Friday and the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series event this Saturday at the Brownstown Speedway in Indiana. The warm up is supposed to work in from west to east so here is hoping that the rest of the shows this weekend can go on as scheduled. And that it is warm enough for my pen!
See you on the Back Stretch.
Friday, March 10, 2017
Grabouski Sweeps Chilly Spring Nationals in Beatrice
I was questioning my sanity as I made the five hour drive west to Beatrice, Nebraska, on Friday afternoon. The temperature was hovering near the freezing mark, road crews were pre-treating the highways and snow was on the way, the reason why the annual IMCA Spring Nationals had been moved up a day in the first place. I have been to a couple of races before where there were snow flurries in the air, but this was the first time that I had ever driven this far to take that risk! The trip was well worth it though as more than 250 cars in five divisions provided us brave fans with a good night of action that moved along steadily despite the less than favorable conditions.
Racing started promptly at 5 p.m. with heats and B-Mains setting the fields in all five divisions for feature races that started shortly after nine. The Sport Compacts were up first and the 15-lap feature got off to a rough start when Wilton, Iowa's Levi Heath hit the wall and then rolled several times in turn one on the opening lap. Thankfully Heath escaped injury in the scary wreck and the field was reassembled for a second start with southeast Iowa driver Barry Taft on the pole, but it was fellow front row starter Cole Krichau who would take the early lead. Taft and Denny Berghahn Jr. kept the pressure on Krichau, but it was not until Tyler Thompson stormed his way to the front of the field before anything changed at the top of the scoreboard. The Sioux City driver had started eighteenth on the grid and he was using the Sport Compact version of a slidejob to muscle his way to the lead as he passed Krichau with three laps to go. Thompson then pulled away over the closing laps to take the apparent win as at least three drivers pulled up next to him on the cool down lap to express some sort of emotion to him.
Defending track champion Dillon Richards came from the fifth row to finish second, Berghahn was third, Taft finished fourth and another Sioux City driver Jake Newsom was fifth, but midway through the next feature I noticed that a wrecker truck had delivered the large trophy to Richard's trailer in the infield and it was later announced that Thompson had failed post-race tech. This would put the early leader Krichau back in the top five at the pay window.
North Dakota's Erik Laudenschlager would pace the opening lap of the Sport Mod main event before Taylor Metz took over on lap two. The caution waved five laps later when Cole Wayman and Jake McBirnie tangled in turn three. Restarts would not be good for Metz as he faded to fourth on this one as Colby Langenberg picked up the point and on a later restart Metz again would lose several spots to eventually finish tenth.
Langenberg escaped disaster with just five laps remaining as he spun on the cushion in turn three. Fortunately for the leader though the caution had already waved for local driver Rick Rohr who had stopped against the wall at the start of the front stretch. Langenberg would bring the field back to green and as Laugenschlager and Justin Addison raced side-by-side for second, Langenberg stretched his lead. When Addison locked himself into second he quickly closed the gap on the leader, but he was still too far back to mount a challenge as the leaders went into the final two turns. Then the unthinkable happened as Langenberg throttled it too hard and drifted way high in turn four handing the lead, and the win over to Justin Addison who was breathless in victory lane. Langenberg knows that he gave this one away as he finished second, Austin Luellen was third, Laudenschlager finished fourth and Tyler Soppe completed the top five.
The 20-lap Stock Car headliner rolled to the track next with Albia, Iowa's Jason See taking the lead from his second starting position. The caution waved early on lap three when Randy Brands tagged the inside wall entering turn three and the action heated up when the race went back to green. See continued to set the pace, but there were a couple of three-wide battles for position going on behind him and they soon got physical. Two of the top-five contenders, Jason Rogers and Damon Murty were eliminated on a lap eight caution and on the ensuing restart two separate skirmishes left five cars sitting on the front stretch needing tow vehicles to get them back to the pit area.
Once back to green it was hometown driver Jason Kreft applying the pressure on See, but the young southeast Iowa driver maintained his cool and pulled away to a convincing victory. Kreft was the runner-up after starting thirteenth, Marcus Fagan came from the eleventh row to finish third, Mike Albertson parlayed an eighth row start to a fourth place finish and the 24th and final starter on the grid, Alvie Christofferson completed the top five.
Local favorite Roy Armstrong would set the pace for the 20-lap Hobby Stock main event and he would lead the opening laps before Andrew Borchardt powered by. Armstrong and Jeff Ware would keep the pressure on the Mason City driver for several laps, but Borchardt would eventually pull away and take the win in the non-stop event. Armstrong would hold off Luke Ramsey to take the second spot, Ware finished fourth and Jesse VanLaningham passed Brendon Stigge on the final lap to finish fifth.
A talented field of Modifieds would close out the evening for thirty laps with Hunter Marriott and Jimmy Gustin drawing the front row. It was the third-starting Dylan Smith who would take the lead on the completion of lap one and the caution would wave on lap two when Jacob Murray and Jay Noteboom tangled in turn three. Smith would maintain his lead through the first third of the race while Thursday's winner Jordan Grabouski steadily picked his way up from his eighth starting position. Smith was no match for Grabouski who drove under the leader on lap eleven and he would stretch his lead as Smith faded through the field.
Marriott was now running second and was cutting into the lead, but just as Grabouski was going to have to deal with lapped traffic his teammate for the weekend, Terry Phillips stopped in turn three with a flat right front tire. In this case the caution was a blessing for the leader and once back to green there would be no catching the defending IMCA Modified National Champion as he would make it two wins in two nights at his hometown track. Marriott was a solid runner-up ahead of Jesse Sobbing while central Iowa drivers Jimmy Gustin and Kyle Brown rounded out the top five.
Full feature results for all five divisions can be found here.
The final checkers waved just past eleven o'clock and promoter Toby Kruse and the entire Beatrice Speedway staff should be commended for not only how well they presented tonight's program, but for how they handled the entire scenario moving the three day event up a day at the last minute when the weather forecast deteriorated. This is obviously an event that can survive and even thrive in weather that would destroy almost any other race weekend. There were nowhere near as many fans here tonight as there was when I was here two years ago when it was unusually warm, but there were a few hundred of us who stuck it out for the entire evening. I couldn't tell you any names of those brave souls, but I could give you about a hundred or more names of those who were watching online as the announcers were giving "shout outs" to those viewers throughout the night.
I had planned to make the trip south to the Humboldt Speedway on Saturday night, but the final event for the Battle of the Bullring has been postponed to Sunday afternoon, so I will instead wait out the snow and then head back for home Saturday, more than pleased with the racing that I was treated to this evening. I guess it can still pay to be a little insane from time to time.
Racing started promptly at 5 p.m. with heats and B-Mains setting the fields in all five divisions for feature races that started shortly after nine. The Sport Compacts were up first and the 15-lap feature got off to a rough start when Wilton, Iowa's Levi Heath hit the wall and then rolled several times in turn one on the opening lap. Thankfully Heath escaped injury in the scary wreck and the field was reassembled for a second start with southeast Iowa driver Barry Taft on the pole, but it was fellow front row starter Cole Krichau who would take the early lead. Taft and Denny Berghahn Jr. kept the pressure on Krichau, but it was not until Tyler Thompson stormed his way to the front of the field before anything changed at the top of the scoreboard. The Sioux City driver had started eighteenth on the grid and he was using the Sport Compact version of a slidejob to muscle his way to the lead as he passed Krichau with three laps to go. Thompson then pulled away over the closing laps to take the apparent win as at least three drivers pulled up next to him on the cool down lap to express some sort of emotion to him.
Defending track champion Dillon Richards came from the fifth row to finish second, Berghahn was third, Taft finished fourth and another Sioux City driver Jake Newsom was fifth, but midway through the next feature I noticed that a wrecker truck had delivered the large trophy to Richard's trailer in the infield and it was later announced that Thompson had failed post-race tech. This would put the early leader Krichau back in the top five at the pay window.
North Dakota's Erik Laudenschlager would pace the opening lap of the Sport Mod main event before Taylor Metz took over on lap two. The caution waved five laps later when Cole Wayman and Jake McBirnie tangled in turn three. Restarts would not be good for Metz as he faded to fourth on this one as Colby Langenberg picked up the point and on a later restart Metz again would lose several spots to eventually finish tenth.
Langenberg escaped disaster with just five laps remaining as he spun on the cushion in turn three. Fortunately for the leader though the caution had already waved for local driver Rick Rohr who had stopped against the wall at the start of the front stretch. Langenberg would bring the field back to green and as Laugenschlager and Justin Addison raced side-by-side for second, Langenberg stretched his lead. When Addison locked himself into second he quickly closed the gap on the leader, but he was still too far back to mount a challenge as the leaders went into the final two turns. Then the unthinkable happened as Langenberg throttled it too hard and drifted way high in turn four handing the lead, and the win over to Justin Addison who was breathless in victory lane. Langenberg knows that he gave this one away as he finished second, Austin Luellen was third, Laudenschlager finished fourth and Tyler Soppe completed the top five.
The 20-lap Stock Car headliner rolled to the track next with Albia, Iowa's Jason See taking the lead from his second starting position. The caution waved early on lap three when Randy Brands tagged the inside wall entering turn three and the action heated up when the race went back to green. See continued to set the pace, but there were a couple of three-wide battles for position going on behind him and they soon got physical. Two of the top-five contenders, Jason Rogers and Damon Murty were eliminated on a lap eight caution and on the ensuing restart two separate skirmishes left five cars sitting on the front stretch needing tow vehicles to get them back to the pit area.
Once back to green it was hometown driver Jason Kreft applying the pressure on See, but the young southeast Iowa driver maintained his cool and pulled away to a convincing victory. Kreft was the runner-up after starting thirteenth, Marcus Fagan came from the eleventh row to finish third, Mike Albertson parlayed an eighth row start to a fourth place finish and the 24th and final starter on the grid, Alvie Christofferson completed the top five.
Local favorite Roy Armstrong would set the pace for the 20-lap Hobby Stock main event and he would lead the opening laps before Andrew Borchardt powered by. Armstrong and Jeff Ware would keep the pressure on the Mason City driver for several laps, but Borchardt would eventually pull away and take the win in the non-stop event. Armstrong would hold off Luke Ramsey to take the second spot, Ware finished fourth and Jesse VanLaningham passed Brendon Stigge on the final lap to finish fifth.
A talented field of Modifieds would close out the evening for thirty laps with Hunter Marriott and Jimmy Gustin drawing the front row. It was the third-starting Dylan Smith who would take the lead on the completion of lap one and the caution would wave on lap two when Jacob Murray and Jay Noteboom tangled in turn three. Smith would maintain his lead through the first third of the race while Thursday's winner Jordan Grabouski steadily picked his way up from his eighth starting position. Smith was no match for Grabouski who drove under the leader on lap eleven and he would stretch his lead as Smith faded through the field.
Marriott was now running second and was cutting into the lead, but just as Grabouski was going to have to deal with lapped traffic his teammate for the weekend, Terry Phillips stopped in turn three with a flat right front tire. In this case the caution was a blessing for the leader and once back to green there would be no catching the defending IMCA Modified National Champion as he would make it two wins in two nights at his hometown track. Marriott was a solid runner-up ahead of Jesse Sobbing while central Iowa drivers Jimmy Gustin and Kyle Brown rounded out the top five.
Full feature results for all five divisions can be found here.
The final checkers waved just past eleven o'clock and promoter Toby Kruse and the entire Beatrice Speedway staff should be commended for not only how well they presented tonight's program, but for how they handled the entire scenario moving the three day event up a day at the last minute when the weather forecast deteriorated. This is obviously an event that can survive and even thrive in weather that would destroy almost any other race weekend. There were nowhere near as many fans here tonight as there was when I was here two years ago when it was unusually warm, but there were a few hundred of us who stuck it out for the entire evening. I couldn't tell you any names of those brave souls, but I could give you about a hundred or more names of those who were watching online as the announcers were giving "shout outs" to those viewers throughout the night.
I had planned to make the trip south to the Humboldt Speedway on Saturday night, but the final event for the Battle of the Bullring has been postponed to Sunday afternoon, so I will instead wait out the snow and then head back for home Saturday, more than pleased with the racing that I was treated to this evening. I guess it can still pay to be a little insane from time to time.
Thursday, March 9, 2017
Thursday Notebook: March 9, 2017
Christine has other plans once again this weekend giving me the opportunity to go racing. The problem is that another woman with slightly more power might have other plans with rain and even snow in the forecast. I just knew that when we had six straight days of record high temperatures in February that we would have to pay for it in March and April.
If you don't already know it by now, it is probably too late, but the Spring Nationals in Beatrice have been moved up by one day in an effort to beat the weather. Practice and the Race of Champions was last night, the first night of racing will take place tonight (Thursday) and the final night will be held on Friday. As I look at the hourly forecast for Friday, as of now, the snow is not supposed to arrive until 3 a.m. on Saturday so that it is my primary target with the Battle of the Bullring B-Mod Nationals at Humboldt, Kansas, as a worthy backup plan.
Humboldt would be my first option for Saturday with other solid possibilities at the Crawford County Speedway in Van Buren, Arkansas, and the USMTS show at the Southern Oklahoma Speedway in Ardmore. Each would involve a bit of a road trip though so if the forecast plays out as predicted I will likely end up back in Des Moines for the final night of the boys State Basketball tournament. Either way I should have some fun!
Last week's road trip did not turn out so well and let's just hope that I have nowhere to go but up for the rest of the 2017 season. Not once did I question my decision to come back home on Saturday and it was confirmed to be a good one after reading Ed Reichert's account of Saturday night's show. I have seen other people put the blame directly on track preparation, but I still say that the format has more to do with the lack of action. Many of my driver friends might disagree, but the average point invert method used by IMCA gives the fans the best show on a consistent basis and I genuinely feel sorry for fans from other areas of the country who do not get to experience. If I lived in an area where all tracks qualified and started the fast cars in front I honestly doubt that I would even be a race fan and the fact that I drove seven hours to get away from it proved that. Quick question, name the two most talked about and anticipated Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series shows of the season. The Silver Dollar Nationals and the Knoxville Nationals both of which use a format that makes the fast guys start somewhere other than up front in the qualifying events.
I see that the ASCS National Tour race that was scheduled for Sunday March 26th at the Missouri State Fair Speedway in Sedalia has been moved to the Randolph County Speedway in Moberly due to construction work on the concession stands that will not be completed in time. Guess that shows just how important concession sales are to the success of an event! Works for me though as not only is Moberly a better track, in my opinion, but it is also more than an hour closer to home for me so put that one on my list. Racing is scheduled at 4 p.m. and will also include the ULMA Late Models.
As someone who tracks the results for the All Iowa Points as well as at the other tracks here in the Midwest I am concerned about the changes with Speednet, the location where I would estimate that I found two-thirds of my results last year. Hopefully ALL race tracks will do a good job of making sure that their results are posted somewhere that is relatively easy to find in 2017.
I just sent the latest update of the Specials schedule to the Webmistress that now has 1,241 events on it. You may have noticed that I have added Arkansas, Michigan and North Dakota to the mix this year, but that will probably do it in regard to "expansion". There are still a few tracks who do not have their schedules finalized and I will keep an eye out for those over the next few weeks.
The weekly schedule for the All Iowa Points tracks will also be completed soon after the Kossuth County Speedway in Algona came through with theirs on Wednesday. The Boone Speedway is the only track in Iowa still missing, but after the addition of their anniversary race you can pretty much fill in the rest from there.
I have to give credit to Dirt On Dirt for this find. Kind of says it all, doesn't it?
Several of the Dirt Late Model shows scheduled for this weekend have already been called so these points will not change much this week.
If you don't already know it by now, it is probably too late, but the Spring Nationals in Beatrice have been moved up by one day in an effort to beat the weather. Practice and the Race of Champions was last night, the first night of racing will take place tonight (Thursday) and the final night will be held on Friday. As I look at the hourly forecast for Friday, as of now, the snow is not supposed to arrive until 3 a.m. on Saturday so that it is my primary target with the Battle of the Bullring B-Mod Nationals at Humboldt, Kansas, as a worthy backup plan.
Humboldt would be my first option for Saturday with other solid possibilities at the Crawford County Speedway in Van Buren, Arkansas, and the USMTS show at the Southern Oklahoma Speedway in Ardmore. Each would involve a bit of a road trip though so if the forecast plays out as predicted I will likely end up back in Des Moines for the final night of the boys State Basketball tournament. Either way I should have some fun!
Last week's road trip did not turn out so well and let's just hope that I have nowhere to go but up for the rest of the 2017 season. Not once did I question my decision to come back home on Saturday and it was confirmed to be a good one after reading Ed Reichert's account of Saturday night's show. I have seen other people put the blame directly on track preparation, but I still say that the format has more to do with the lack of action. Many of my driver friends might disagree, but the average point invert method used by IMCA gives the fans the best show on a consistent basis and I genuinely feel sorry for fans from other areas of the country who do not get to experience. If I lived in an area where all tracks qualified and started the fast cars in front I honestly doubt that I would even be a race fan and the fact that I drove seven hours to get away from it proved that. Quick question, name the two most talked about and anticipated Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series shows of the season. The Silver Dollar Nationals and the Knoxville Nationals both of which use a format that makes the fast guys start somewhere other than up front in the qualifying events.
I see that the ASCS National Tour race that was scheduled for Sunday March 26th at the Missouri State Fair Speedway in Sedalia has been moved to the Randolph County Speedway in Moberly due to construction work on the concession stands that will not be completed in time. Guess that shows just how important concession sales are to the success of an event! Works for me though as not only is Moberly a better track, in my opinion, but it is also more than an hour closer to home for me so put that one on my list. Racing is scheduled at 4 p.m. and will also include the ULMA Late Models.
As someone who tracks the results for the All Iowa Points as well as at the other tracks here in the Midwest I am concerned about the changes with Speednet, the location where I would estimate that I found two-thirds of my results last year. Hopefully ALL race tracks will do a good job of making sure that their results are posted somewhere that is relatively easy to find in 2017.
I just sent the latest update of the Specials schedule to the Webmistress that now has 1,241 events on it. You may have noticed that I have added Arkansas, Michigan and North Dakota to the mix this year, but that will probably do it in regard to "expansion". There are still a few tracks who do not have their schedules finalized and I will keep an eye out for those over the next few weeks.
The weekly schedule for the All Iowa Points tracks will also be completed soon after the Kossuth County Speedway in Algona came through with theirs on Wednesday. The Boone Speedway is the only track in Iowa still missing, but after the addition of their anniversary race you can pretty much fill in the rest from there.
I have to give credit to Dirt On Dirt for this find. Kind of says it all, doesn't it?
Several of the Dirt Late Model shows scheduled for this weekend have already been called so these points will not change much this week.
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